


Awakening Hope

by WhenWeNextMeetMyFriends



Series: An Alternate Fate (aka jordan lives and so do others) [1]
Category: The Crafting Dead
Genre: AU, And a different perspective, But at a distance, F/F, Jordan didnt die, M/M, Multi, The Crafting Dead AU, We will eventually see the OG gang, Will add tags as I go, but for now, follows the main storyline, mentions of violence/torture, oc work, series of One-shots, this shall do
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-02-12
Updated: 2019-02-12
Packaged: 2019-10-27 00:43:15
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings, No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,593
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/17756537
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/WhenWeNextMeetMyFriends/pseuds/WhenWeNextMeetMyFriends
Summary: Jordan wakes up





	Awakening Hope

**Author's Note:**

> Hey! This is heavily influenced by the works of Charlie over at craftingdead. Her series is so good! Like, I was inspired to make my own universe because of her and I really recommend you check her out if you enjoy this!
> 
> I will help you make CD a common tag Charlie :)

**He was hot, and cold. Here, there, everywhere and nowhere. The explosion had torn him apart, but also put him back together.**

“Come on kid, stick with me here…”

**Nick, Ghetto, he had to see them. Had to warn them before it was too late. It was already too late.**

“Please just… eat this. It’s all I have, bud. You need to eat something.

**Days, weeks, hours, months… what was time passing when nothing and everything mattered?**

 

"Parker, we can't do this much longer."

"Saff, we have to try!"

**He would be awake to bright red and light yellow above him, such a dichotomy of color that he found himself sinking back out again. Dichotomy was a big word, did he even know what it means? Yes, no, maybe?**

“Supply run. Trust me, I’ll be fine.”

**Where was he? Where was anyone? A floating rock amidst the complete void of space? So insignificant, yet not. Nothing was real, everything was real.**

“He’s coming back. Be prepared for anything.

**Heat. Burning heat, and a desire to open his eyes. Pain, coursing through his body now came to life, and yet had always been there.**

“It’s okay bud… I’m here for ya.”

**Who are you?**

“Come on… wake up.”

**Who was he?**

“Wake up.”

**He knew who he was, but it didn’t feel real. He didn’t know, he knew.**

“Wake up.”

**Jordan. That was his name, right?**

“There you go.”

~

The boy had been in and out of consciousness for days now. We were running low on supplies, and we both knew it, but we couldn’t move safely until this kid woke up.

We had found him in a burning building, leaned against a wall and left for dead. Burn marks covered his body, and I had to jump from a window with him in my arms to escape the next explosion. Someone had really wanted this kid, and possibly others, dead.

He looked small, only twelve at the oldest. His thin frame spoke of starvation, possible torture. Whatever had happened to him, he was going to have trauma for the rest of his life… well, worse than the general trauma of being thrust into a zombie apocalypse thousands of miles away from your family.

I sighed, exchanging the cloth on his burning forehead for a new one. He had been feverish for days now, and we were both worried he wouldn’t survive. But I couldn’t give up hope… not yet.

“Come on kid,” I found myself speaking aloud once more, knowing that Saffron was out on a hunting mission. “You can do it. Wake up.”

His face scrunched up, the first sign of life he had in days. I was near tears with relief.

“There you go, come on. Wake up, wake up!” I was gently cupping his face, trying to bring him back to life. He groaned, a sign of the pain he was probably feeling, before peeling his eyes open.

The blue shade of his eyes was such a stark contrast to his darker skin that it shocked me. He was light-skinned, slowing that his parents were obviously of mixed races, but I did not expect the glittering cyan shade of his eyes. He looked up at me, seeming both here consciously and not.

“I…” He coughed, and I took a small step back to grab a bottle of water. I pressed it into his hand, helping him sit up to drink the water. I could feel his ribs, which was terrifying but a sadly common sight these days.

“Welcome to the world of the living,” I rubbed his back as he chugged the water eagerly, soothing his probably dry throat. “Glad to see you made it.”

“Where are we?” Those blue eyes, so innocent yet so jaded, glanced around the small tent we were holed up in. The campfire outside burned low, sending only a small amount of smoke into the cool fall air.

“Somewhere near the coast,” I shrugged, not really knowing either, “I think Saffron said Maryland?”

“Who’s Saffron? Who are you?”

I realized in this moment that he might think we had kidnapped him. I held my hands up, showing I meant no ill intent. “Right, introductions. My name is Parker. Saffron is my partner in this hellhole of a world we live in.”

“Oh.” The boy looked down at his lap, probably debating whether to trust us.

“As soon as you’re healthy again, Saff and I were gonna offer you stick with us.” My hands went to fidget with my choppy red hair, the fidgeting being a habit I’ve had forever. “I mean, if you want. We won’t force you.”

I turned away from the boy, slipping out of the tent to go and grab some cold soup for the two of us to chow down on. He’d need his strength to kick this fever.

“How long have I been out?” His soft voice carried out to me, and I could feel the fear that added to the waver in his voice.

“About a week? We found you in pretty bad shape.” I returned to the tent with two bowls of soup, handing one over to him. “Can you talk about what happened?”

He froze up, staring down at the soup. I hurried to backtrack, not wanting to scare him off. “You don’t have to, obviously, but-”

“Have you heard of the name Red?”

My blood ran cold at the thought of him. “That… cannibal? I swear to god I will  _ murder _ him.”

“He… he took me from my group.” The poor kid’s voice was shaking, but he seemed like he couldn’t hold himself back. “He tortured me because of who I was with, and I-”

“You’re okay.” I reached out to rest a hand on his shoulder, smiling softly. “I won’t push you to say anything else. Just… focus on eating for now.”

We fell into silence as the soup was eaten, the boy devouring it like he hadn’t eaten anything so filling in so long. He probably hadn’t.

I took the bowl when he was done, dropping the duo off outside the tent. He looked a bit better now, more relaxed and content. I watched him lie back down, curling up under the best blanket we had. I checked on his fever, glad to see it had gone down a bit.

“Rest up.” I tucked him in a bit, protective over this kid I knew almost nothing about. “You need your energy.”

He nodded a bit, letting his eyes close. I shut the tent, collecting the bowls once more. There was a stream just to the right of the tent, the water crisp and clear. I used it to clean out the bowls, letting myself relax within the nature.

Then there was the voice of someone cursing heavily. I froze up at the sound, silently pulling away and slinking to press against the tent. I slid my knife out from my belt, holding it at the ready in case the voice was hostile.

But no, it was just the familiar blonde who had gone out for supplies a few hours ago. Saffron stomped into the clearing, soaking wet and holding a dead rabbit. I pulled myself away from the tent, knife going back into its resting spot against my hip.

“Someone took a tumble into the river,” I smirked at my friend, who glared right back at me.

“It’s infected.” She dropped the rabbit directly into the fire, to my displeasure. “Inedible.”

“Fuck.” I ran a hand through my hair once more, staring at the burning corpse of the rabbit. “What the hell are we supposed to do? The kid and I ate the last can-”

“Wait, the kid ate?” 

I blinked at Saff’s sudden outburst. “Oh, yeah. He woke up for a bit, ate some food, and is sleeping again.”

“Did he say what happened to him?” She slid her shirt off, and I hurried to look away with a blush. 

“He was with Red.” His name darkened the mood significantly, my hand flying to the scar on my side I had gained from him. 

“Shit… is he okay?”

“Tortured, traumatized… something about the group he was with.” Saff passed me to grab a dry shirt from a bag outside the tent, her back drawing my attention as it always had. She had scars decorating the light skin, like lightning across her thin form. It sickened me to think how I had found her.

“Fuck, man.” She threw on a black tank top, broad shoulders and arm muscles on full display. “I hate when other people go through what we did…”

“We were lucky enough to escape him with what we had.” I had to tether my mind to the present by focusing on Saffron’s green eyes, blonde hair falling into her face no matter how hard she tried to brush it back.

“Yeah… yeah, we were.”

I smiled a bit, trying to be hopeful. “Now that the kid is waking up, maybe we can move out soon. His sickness is down, which is great, and we have a lead on Red.”

“We could track him from where we found the kid,” Saff seemed to be catching on, “and end his reign of terror for good.”

“Exactly.” I looked back to the tent, watched the tent flap I swore I had closed fall shut. A genuine smile graced my face at the sight of the kid trying so hard to be sneaky and listen in on us.

“Come on… I wanna introduce you two.”


End file.
